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Re: Rooting Android

For me, the biggest advantage of rooting is being able to install wireless tether.

I'm not big into the custom ROM thing, but on my HTC Hero, the Bluetooth stack in the Sprint ROMs wouldn't work properly with some devices. In order to get the Bluetooth to work properly, I had to install a custom ROM (which also got me a newer version of Android, since Sprint stopped releasing upgrades for the Hero.)

Re: Rooting Android

Originally Posted by tre

Is there any way to increase battery life through some type of customization?

The best way to increase battery life is to disable background synchronization for stuff you don't use. Go into Settings -> Accounts & sync and turn off anything you're not using. Also, turn off GPS, bluetooth, wifi when you're not using them. I use Tasker to manage a lot of this. None of this requires root.

Re: Rooting Android

I have the HTC Evo 4G, & I am thinking about doing this...
Can anyone who has done this tell me what advantages it gives you?

Below is my two cents and strictly from my point of view. THere are more advantages I'm sure that I can't think of right now or haven't benefitted from.

Advantages:
1. Remove or freeze bloatware. Personally I freeze it using Titanium Backup (TiBu) so that future over-the-air (OTA) updates work properly. Deleting some bloatware can cause issues with OTA updates, etc.

2. Backup system data, user apps + data. I do this with TiBu. You cannot use TiBu without root access. I also save the backups to dropbox. This way, if my phone completely dies and I need to replace it or reset it to the factory default, I can get it back exactly the way I want it very easily.

3. Custom ROMs & Kernals. I haven't put a custom ROM on my bionic yet as I am currently using GoLauncher and GoWidgets which provide a lot of customizing. However, you can't get custom ROMs or Kernals without root.

4. Wireless tethering. Verizon charges an additional $30/month to unlock your phone for wireless tethering. You can do this yourself with root access. While this isn't breaking any laws, wireless or wired tethering is breaking your contractual agreement with Verizon and may cause your data usage to exceed your limit, in turn creating large data use charges and/or termination of services by Verizon.

5. Set CPU. This app allows you to control the speed at which your phone operates. This can be useful to help you preserve battery life. For example, if your phone has a 1GHz prossessor, you can force it to only perform at a maximum of 300MHz at night or when your screen is off. The faster your processor goes, the more the battery gets drained. This is especially useful with custom ROMs & Kernals.

6. Root Explorer. This is a file explorer that you can use to add/delete/modify files on your phone that you wouldn't otherwise be able to without root.

Disadvantages:
Rooting your device immediately violates the warranty on the device through your service provider.

There is a risk when rooting your device, or when modifying apps/files afterward that you could "brick" your phone. If this happens and you are unable to recover it, you are sol. Fork over retail for a new phone.

Every now and again service providers figure out how to block root access. If this occurs via an OTA update, then to regain root you will probably need to reset your phone to factory settings and start over. Just a bit time consuming and annoying, but if everything is backed up it isn't too bad.

Re: Rooting Android

I had an EVO 4g that was rebooting and getting stuck in a boot loop often so I decided I might as well try rooting it. If I bricked it I wouldn't really care since it was messed up anyway. I played around with some of the custom roms and some are pretty cool but the free wifi tether was the best part of it. I also overclocked it which helped on some 3d heavy games.

Also my phone eventually got too frustrating with its stupid boot loop, which was a hardware issue that had started before the root, that I returned it and they gave me a new one. I am planning on rooting my new one this week though since I'll be stuck at my grandma's for a week with no net access for my laptop.

Re: Rooting Android

There's some advantages and some disadvantages.

First and foremost only do it if it's something that you look at like a hobby. You will no longer get OTA (Over the Air) updates. You will need to manually flash your phone with the newest updates. Also, your phone will be void of warranty and will not be worked on even if you have the extra insurance. There's ways to restore it so it's in it's unrooted state, but if you have a mic go out and you take it in for service you'll likely not get it repaired. I would say there's very few users that look at rooting a phone as a good thing. You have to like gadgets and like customizing and like it as a hobby, otherwise it's just a pain in the ***.

There's plenty of advantages. I'm running the MIUI (MIUI.us UNITED WORLDWIDE - News) ROM on my Evo and I love it. I love that I can walk up to any computer running Windows 7, plug my phone in and use it as a modem, no drivers or anything need to be installed on the machine. Since you're likely using Sprint, you could theoretically replace you home internet with your phone if you don't care about low pings and high throughput.

Other advantages are better battery life. Some ROMs will have very good life. MIUI is about 33% better than a standard ROM. Flash a different Kernal like SavagedZen and you'll get an even larger increase.

Another advantage is imaging your phone. As I mentioned above my phone's mic went out. I was able to image my phone (back up everything EXACTLY as it was), restore the broken phone to it's default sprint OS, take it in and get it replaced, root my new phone and apply the image from my previous phone and have the new phone be 100% identical to my old one.

There's other advantages like others mentioned like a mobile wifi hotspot without having to pay a fee, removing system apps, etc. But as I said above, you take in a rooted phone for service and they'll likely send you packing.

If you do decide to get started, this community has all you'll need. All the roms, all the kernals, all the info. Just make sure if you have questions to ask them in the questions forum, and not in the Development forum.

Re: Rooting Android

agree with all the advantages above, but i havent found a custom rom that didnt have some issues like locking up more often than stock, gps may/may not work, sometimes battery life seemed worse, etc. It's just trade-offs either way.

Re: Rooting Android

I regretted waiting a year to root. I have an Incredible, which has a great ROM community. Personally, I like HTC Sense. I'm able to use a ROM built with a newer version than what is available to the unrooted users. Things like the lockscreen, camera controls and general appearance tweaks on Sense 3.5 are great.

I highly recommend the V6 Supercharger ******* available through the XDA site. Very nice set of optimizers that eliminate some of the issues that come with custom ROMs.

CM7 is also a top notch ROM that is infinitely customizable for those who do not care for Sense.

Re: Rooting Android

Originally Posted by Skipple

There's some advantages and some disadvantages.

First and foremost only do it if it's something that you look at like a hobby. You will no longer get OTA (Over the Air) updates. You will need to manually flash your phone with the newest updates. Also, your phone will be void of warranty and will not be worked on even if you have the extra insurance. There's ways to restore it so it's in it's unrooted state, but if you have a mic go out and you take it in for service you'll likely not get it repaired. I would say there's very few users that look at rooting a phone as a good thing. You have to like gadgets and like customizing and like it as a hobby, otherwise it's just a pain in the ***.

There's plenty of advantages. I'm running the MIUI (MIUI.us UNITED WORLDWIDE - News) ROM on my Evo and I love it. I love that I can walk up to any computer running Windows 7, plug my phone in and use it as a modem, no drivers or anything need to be installed on the machine. Since you're likely using Sprint, you could theoretically replace you home internet with your phone if you don't care about low pings and high throughput.

Other advantages are better battery life. Some ROMs will have very good life. MIUI is about 33% better than a standard ROM. Flash a different Kernal like SavagedZen and you'll get an even larger increase.

Another advantage is imaging your phone. As I mentioned above my phone's mic went out. I was able to image my phone (back up everything EXACTLY as it was), restore the broken phone to it's default sprint OS, take it in and get it replaced, root my new phone and apply the image from my previous phone and have the new phone be 100% identical to my old one.

There's other advantages like others mentioned like a mobile wifi hotspot without having to pay a fee, removing system apps, etc. But as I said above, you take in a rooted phone for service and they'll likely send you packing.

If you do decide to get started, this community has all you'll need. All the roms, all the kernals, all the info. Just make sure if you have questions to ask them in the questions forum, and not in the Development forum.

I have a HTC Incredible and I basically had to do that just to get the gingerbread OTA update. For whatever reason the Incredible won't take the OTA update unless you do a factory reset on the phone. Was a lot more work than I wanted to do just to get a system update for my phone, and I'm still debating whether it was worth A. losing my Angry Birds progress and B. being forced back to the Netflix menu screen every time I pause what I'm watching because I can't get the screen to default stay on when plugged in anymore.

Chuck Lidell: I paint my toenails with pink and black polish. Problem is, I get more paint on my toes and on the carpet than on my nails. Any advice?Maria Sharapova: Don't you beat up other guys for a living? I don't know how to answer this.

Re: Rooting Android

Originally Posted by jdoggivjc

I have a HTC Incredible and I basically had to do that just to get the gingerbread OTA update. For whatever reason the Incredible won't take the OTA update unless you do a factory reset on the phone. Was a lot more work than I wanted to do just to get a system update for my phone, and I'm still debating whether it was worth A. losing my Angry Birds progress and B. being forced back to the Netflix menu screen every time I pause what I'm watching because I can't get the screen to default stay on when plugged in anymore.

There seems to be problems with even un-rooted users though too. My sister has one as well and she's getting the low on space error. Only solution would seem to be a factory reset and installing the update. Might try rooting it for her and installing the update manually.

There seems to be problems with even un-rooted users though too. My sister has one as well and she's getting the low on space error. Only solution would seem to be a factory reset and installing the update. Might try rooting it for her and installing the update manually.

Those hours I spent manually updating my phone, reloading all my apps, etc. has just about sold me on the iPhone when I upgrade in about 6 months. Don't get me wrong, my Droid is the first phone I've owned in 5 years and my second phone overall that I didn't outright hate after about a year, it's just a lot of work to maintain a phone IMO. I get it, there are a lot of people that love doing that kind of thing. I'm just not one of those people. Plus I imagine it will interface better with the iPad that my wife and I plan on buying in a few months.

Chuck Lidell: I paint my toenails with pink and black polish. Problem is, I get more paint on my toes and on the carpet than on my nails. Any advice?Maria Sharapova: Don't you beat up other guys for a living? I don't know how to answer this.

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